Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting

Its my brother's birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRO! I decided to make a cake for his birthday instead of buying one to give me an excuse to try out this recipe I found. As far as I can remember, my brother always loved having chocolate cake for his birthday. My mom used to make chocolate cake (without frosting) from scratch and her potato salad for his birthday. She hasn't done that in a while. So I thought now would be a good time to bring back that tradition, minus the potato salad. The chocolate cake recipe is from Hershey's. We're taking him out to dinner tonight, so we'll probably be cutting this cake before we go out to dinner. Hope he likes it :)

Update: The cake came out really moist and flavorful. I got a thumbs up from the birthday boy. Which is a big deal, because he's very picky with his food. So I'll definitely be making this one again.

For the Cake

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch round baking pans.

2) In a bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium for about 2 minutes. Pour in boiling water and continue to mix until well incorporated. Batter will be thin. Evenly distribute batter between the two prepared pans.

3) Bake for 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. Start checking cakes around 25 minutes as oven temperatures may vary.

4) Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then run knife around the edges and gently remove from pans. Place on wire racks to cool completely.

For the frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick) at room temperature

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1) Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Mixture will be thick like wet sand at first, but will eventually turn fluffy.

2) To frost cake, place first layer on your serving platter and frost top, leaving about an inch border. Place the second layer on top (bottom-side up) and frost the top and sides.